From Risk Management to Business Transformation: How Coris Holding Is Making Sustainability a Core Strategic Lever

Sustainability is no longer just a risk management issue for Coris Holding. The Pan-African banking group now aims to leverage it as a driver for transforming its business model, with green and climate finance at the heart of its strategy.

Isham Boris Sonny, Head of Sustainability at Coris Holding, outlined this evolution during the 4th edition of the African ESG Summit, organized by Managers Magazine on October 8, 2026. His presentation highlighted how an initiative initially mandated by a financial partner has gradually evolved into a group-wide integrated strategy.

Origins: From Compliance to Integration

The journey began within Coris’s subsidiary in Burkina Faso. During an international financing project, the bank was required to implement an environmental and social policy. At the time, this approach was still largely novel for the institution.

“We were discovering what an environmental policy for a bank actually entailed,” explained Isham Boris Sonny.

However, the initial policy remained largely theoretical. An evaluation conducted at the end of the financing period revealed that, apart from a list of excluded activities, the policy was not effectively applied. This experience served as a turning point for the group.

Coris subsequently revised its policy to align it with its specific activities and integrate it into the credit approval process. Today, all financing requests undergo an environmental and social risk assessment, classified into three risk levels. For projects presenting the highest risks, environmental and social due diligence is conducted to identify potential issues and support clients in mitigating them.

Expanding the Scope: Beyond Responsible Financing

The group’s thinking did not stop at responsible financing. By observing trends in other markets, Coris gradually broadened its approach to encompass wider responsibility issues, including:

• Ethics
• Customer relations
• Environment and climate
• Employee well-being
• Community engagement

This comprehensive approach was then elevated to the group level with the creation of a dedicated sustainability function. This function has been integrated into Coris Holding’s 2025–2027 strategy, establishing sustainability as a core pillar of its development.

Strategic Priorities: Climate Action and New Financial Products

Coris is now aiming to take the next step, particularly regarding climate action. The group is working on assessing its portfolio’s exposure to climate risks while simultaneously developing a strategy focused on opportunities linked to the energy transition. Three key areas are being targeted:

1. Energy Transition
2. Sustainable Agriculture
3. Cities, Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructure

Accreditation with the Green Climate Fund

Another major initiative underway is Coris Holding’s accreditation with the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The group submitted its application in September 2026 and aims to achieve accreditation in 2027. The goal is to mobilize more climate finance for the economies in which the group operates.

Innovation in Financial Products

This transformation is also driving the development of new financial products. Coris is planning to launch an Islamic finance product with a sustainability component in 2027. Additionally, the group is exploring the issuance of green bonds.

Furthermore, Coris is working to quantify its own greenhouse gas emissions. As Isham Boris Sonny noted, this ensures that the bank does not ask its clients to undertake their own transition without applying the same standards to the financial institution itself.

Challenges Ahead

Despite this progress, the shift from a compliance-based logic to a transformation-oriented logic faces several obstacles. Key challenges include:

• The lack of a sufficiently precise banking regulatory framework on sustainability issues in the markets where the group operates.
• Difficulties related to the availability and quality of data.

The experience shared at the African ESG Summit illustrates a broader evolution in the African banking sector: sustainability is moving beyond risk management to directly influence investment choices, financial products, and the overall economic model of banks.